---
title: What would happen to forest soil if no leaves ever rotted? — Trees and forests through the year · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen to forest soil if no leaves ever rotted? Test 5 of lesson 76 «Trees and forests through the year» of the world course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was wrong.
---

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# Test 5 · Trees and forests through the year

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen to forest soil if no leaves ever rotted?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 1 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** happen, rot · **To what, where:** leaves

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 5 of lesson 76 «Trees and forests through the year» of the world course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/world/76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year/#t5).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:t5:1
# text = What would happen to forest soil if no leaves ever rotted?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	TO	_	6	case	_	_
5	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
9	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	11	advmod	_	_
11	rotted	rot	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  | to forest soil | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **rot** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle · passive |  | no leaves |  |  | ever |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would get poorer, with no new food for plants

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:t5:o1:1
# text = It would get poorer, with no new food for plants
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	poorer	poor	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
8	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | would | It |  |  |  |  | with no new food for plants; poor *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing would change at all

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:t5:o2:1
# text = Nothing would change at all
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | would | Nothing |  |  | all |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Trees would grow faster

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:t5:o3:1
# text = Trees would grow faster
1	Trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | would | Trees |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would become richer every year as the leaves stayed on top

```conllu
# sent_id = question:world:76-trees-and-forests-through-the-year:t5:o4:1
# text = It would become richer every year as the leaves stayed on top
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	richer	rich	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	xcomp	_	_
7	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	stayed	stay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | would | It | every year |  |  |  | rich *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **stay** | past | the leaves |  |  | top |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on top=Location |

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**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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